Bennington Postbac Premed Program
Orli Florsheim. postbac ‘14
“I started working as a research assistant at Yale University School of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine a few weeks after finishing the postbac year at Bennington. The work that I do at Yale is focused on HIV treatment and prevention in the New Haven community. In one lab, I work with a multidisciplinary team to develop digital games aimed at decreasing the risk of HIV for at-risk youth by increasing health-positive behaviors. In another lab, I am working on a treatment trial with HIV-positive alcohol dependent patients to determine how treatment with an injectable opioid receptor blocker may cause a decrease in alcohol consumption and a subsequent increase in antiretroviral adherence.
“Working at Yale has been a great glide year experience—being part of a medical school environment allows me to shadow physicians, go to Medical Grand Rounds, and take advantage of other fantastic resources. Additionally, it helped me stay grounded and focused throughout the medical school application cycle—I am reminded every day of why I want to be a doctor. I also teach Spinning classes at Yale’s Payne Whitney Gym, which is a fun way to stay balanced and blow off steam!
“I have also been working with current Bennington College postbac students on a qualitative study regarding access to sexual health testing services for adolescent women in the Bennington community. This is a follow-up study to a survey that I did last year in Bennington on access to health services for pregnant and parenting teenaged women in the community. I have continued this line of research into my glide year because I am interested in issues of access to care that impact women in rural communities.
“At the same time that I was starting my job at Yale, I hit the ground running on the medical school application cycle. After about two exhausting months of writing and submitting numerous admissions essays, I was finally able to see the payoff of a year’s worth of hard work. Flying around the country to interview at different schools was both humbling and exciting. I quickly realized that, as a postbac student, I had the advantage of maturity and more “real life” experiences, which I believe gives nontraditional students a leg up in the admissions process.
“As my glide year is drawing to a close, I am excited to be able to report that I will be attending the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine starting this August!”
Orli Florsheim. postbac ‘14
“I started working as a research assistant at Yale University School of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine a few weeks after finishing the postbac year at Bennington. The work that I do at Yale is focused on HIV treatment and prevention in the New Haven community. In one lab, I work with a multidisciplinary team to develop digital games aimed at decreasing the risk of HIV for at-risk youth by increasing health-positive behaviors. In another lab, I am working on a treatment trial with HIV-positive alcohol dependent patients to determine how treatment with an injectable opioid receptor blocker may cause a decrease in alcohol consumption and a subsequent increase in antiretroviral adherence.
“Working at Yale has been a great glide year experience—being part of a medical school environment allows me to shadow physicians, go to Medical Grand Rounds, and take advantage of other fantastic resources. Additionally, it helped me stay grounded and focused throughout the medical school application cycle—I am reminded every day of why I want to be a doctor. I also teach Spinning classes at Yale’s Payne Whitney Gym, which is a fun way to stay balanced and blow off steam!
“I have also been working with current Bennington College postbac students on a qualitative study regarding access to sexual health testing services for adolescent women in the Bennington community. This is a follow-up study to a survey that I did last year in Bennington on access to health services for pregnant and parenting teenaged women in the community. I have continued this line of research into my glide year because I am interested in issues of access to care that impact women in rural communities.
“At the same time that I was starting my job at Yale, I hit the ground running on the medical school application cycle. After about two exhausting months of writing and submitting numerous admissions essays, I was finally able to see the payoff of a year’s worth of hard work. Flying around the country to interview at different schools was both humbling and exciting. I quickly realized that, as a postbac student, I had the advantage of maturity and more “real life” experiences, which I believe gives nontraditional students a leg up in the admissions process.
“As my glide year is drawing to a close, I am excited to be able to report that I will be attending the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine starting this August!”